


Step by Step

by OnyxReed



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fusion, Lapidot Crystal Gems AU, Other, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 20:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3992584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyxReed/pseuds/OnyxReed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An inexperienced Peridot practices fusing with Lapis Lazuli.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Step by Step

**Author's Note:**

> http://marxistperidot.tumblr.com/post/117802391741/step-by-step

It was unlike anything she had ever felt.

The power surged through her form with an intensity that had always been denied from her, a fervor that tapped into the reserves that had always been locked away, hidden from herself by her lower position. Before then, she would have never dared to grow.

But drastic times called for drastic measures.

Her humanoid form, for a brief moment, seemed as if it was going to retreat back into the pulsating green gem that radiated this intense energy. She no longer felt the burdens of her suit hindering her movements; her dances were as free as they could be in the strict stepping order that she had calculated for herself. The ever-present visor was no more, taking its tint with it and finally allowing Peridot’s eyes to behold the beauty of the world around her without the lime filter.

With a single bad calculation that threw her askew, she misstepped fatally. An elbow bumped into the plate over her abdomen.

She heard a squeal from her partner, and both gems came tumbling down to the dirt. Sand rushed into the crevices of her suit, reminding her that, alas, she was still here:

On Earth. Stranded. Without training for survival situations.

With Lapis Lazuli.

Peridot dusted herself off and managed to stand again with a groan. Lapis had, as always, gathered herself much more quickly.

“We were so close that time!” the blue gem mewled with a slight sigh. “Did you feel it?”

Peridot glanced down at her fingers as if the sight of them would jog her mind. The thought slipped from the numerous gaps in her digits. “It was… certainly interesting,” she gathered, looking back upwards. “Are we going to try again?”

“Of course we are,” Lapis insisted. “If we don’t get it now, we won’t get it when we need it.”

“Ugh. Right.”

The technician nodded with a grunt of exasperation, rolling her shoulders as she resumed the awkward stance - both hands by her side and her form as stiff as a stick - that she insisted was the proper way to begin dancing. After all, without starting from a solid base, how could she possibly execute every move necessary to match Lapis’s unpredictability?

Lapis did not move at all, only passing judging glances upon Peridot’s form.

“This is why we haven’t made progress!” She gestured towards the other, putting a hand on the exposed skin of her arm and causing Peridot to furrow her eyebrows. 

“Don’t patronize me, Lapis Lazuli,” the other warned.

Lapis rolled her eyes, taking a step closer. “You have never fused before! You’ve never been contrary to orders from Homeworld. Would it kill you to listen to my direction?”

Peridot tensed further, glancing off to the side. “Right, of course.”

“You made it worse! You are even stiffer now.”

“Well, then do tell me how to make it better.”

“Relax!”

“I can’t relax when you aren’t relaxed!”

Lapis furrowed her eyebrows took a step back. Realizing her slight crescendo, she lowered her voice. “I am completely calm.”

Letting out a few breaths, Peridot took a few measures towards the relaxation of her muscles. The surge that she had felt had long since trickled out of her memory; it was replaced with the insurmountable paranoia of failure, that which had always locked her power away before.

She shut her eyes as Lapis assumed her own position, both arms curved upwards with her wrists interlocking gently. She was water rushing to fit her mold.

“Look at me.”

Peridot obeyed without reluctance. Her eyes were met with two blue orbs of disappointment.

Lapis let out a sigh, relaxing out of her form. Peridot did not move a muscle.

“Listen, you don’t need to go on another tirade about how much you hate being stuck on this planet. Not in front of me. I was stuck here for the duration of your entire existence.” Lapis just barely controlled her anger.

“I get it. You don’t want to be here, and if you were stranded with anybody on this humdrum rock, you certainly wouldn’t pick me. However, you need to recognize that, if we face anybody who has enough power to threaten our lives, she will be from one of two camps.”

Lapis nodded, aware that Peridot knew exactly between which rock and hard place they were stuck.

“We need to maximize our power. To do that, we need to fuse. And to do that, we need to at least tolerate each other!”

They stood silently, looking at each other with clashing countenances. Lapis’s, as usual, displayed her passion. Peridot’s, also as usual, displayed a complete inability to deal with the other’s fervor.

Finally, the technician lowered her head. Lapis’s argument was undoubtedly logical, but it put her on a level that she was, quite frankly, not used to being placed on. She had to be an equal.

“Shut your mouth,” Peridot finally declared, a certainty in her voice that, feigned or otherwise, was present.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t talk. Just dance.”

To Lapis, the declaration was a godsend, exactly what she had been waiting for to save her from the other’s constant questions about technique. To Peridot, the courage to declare was equally valued, and she was rewarded with the quiet that she needed in order to concentrate.

She closed her eyes before opening them again to watch Lapis, whose movements, as always, were graceful and fluid. Rather than trying to break down every angle of her form and every trajectory of her technique, filling up her visor with graphs and equations, Peridot simply moved along.

Her inhibitions weren’t thrown to the wind immediately, but it did not take long for her near-constant worry to be replaced by the same surge of power emanating from her gem. The humanoid form to which she has been accustomed for decades since her last retreat began to evaporate as the energy of their synchronization brought her to a boil.

She soon found herself incapable of moving in light of the energy swirling in her gem, vaporizing the chains that once kept it bound. With Lapis in her arms, the light surrounding them made it impossible to see her partner.

Peridot reached inside of herself, and she grew.


End file.
